Lionel's Sacrifice

---Aaron---

Lionel swore loudly. He started to jog back to us. "Sir, be careful!" One of the soldiers shouted, pointing at Lionel's foot. In his haste, he had stepped off the tile slightly and onto an adjacent one. 'Click.'

The entire room tilted. I collided with Katherine, who collided with one of the soldiers. We all crashed into the corner in a heap. In an attempt to keep his balance, Lionel accidentally stepped on several other tiles. 'Click, click, click.' The room went back to normal, but two compartments opened up in the walls and water began to pour in.

"Stop! Nobody move!" I shouted, standing up. Lionel froze, his right foot above another tile. "Lionel, how did you get the room to go back to normal?"

"I—I don't know. I lost my balance and stepped on random tiles." Lionel scratched his head. "Shouldn't we be figuring out how to stop the water?"

"I think each mechanism has a reverse mechanism. We just need to figure out which tile controls what, and then we can stop the water." I said slowly.

"How are we going to do that without activating any other traps?" One of the soldiers asked.

"That's the risk we have to take." Katherine said, standing up. "Lionel, do you remember which tile you were on before and which tiles you stepped on?"

Lionel looked down. "I think the tile I'm stepping on right now activated the water. That tile might have tilted the room. I also probably stepped on the tiles in this area." He circled the tiles in the air with his finger.

The water was now to our ankles. I splashed closer to the tiled section, taking care to not accidentally step on any tiles. "Do you want to try stepping on the tiles in this area? Maybe one of them will turn off the water." I gestured toward the tiles that Lionel said he might have stepped on. Lionel looked at me, then at Katherine and his two remaining soldiers. The water level rose with every passing minute. "Okay. I'll try."

Lionel kept one foot on the tile he was currently on to mark his spot. He tried the tile directly to the left. Nothing happened. He tried an adjacent tile. Click. A third spout appeared in the wall and began adding water. Lionel looked up at us in alarm. He stepped on a few other tiles in quick succession. One sent out a volley of arrows that we narrowly avoided. Two others did nothing. As the water level passed our mid-calf, Lionel stretched his leg and stepped on a tile an entire stride away. 'Click.' The water stopped.

"It worked!" Katherine shouted with happiness. "There really is an anti-mechanism for every trap. Good call, Aaron!"

"It was a lucky guess," I answered, but I couldn't stop smiling with relief.

Lionel gave me an approving nod. "We still have to find an exit—if there is one."

"If only there was some way we can keep track of the tiles Lionel already stepped on and what they are, so we can quickly find the reverse mechanism in case something happens," Katherine said.

"Oh! We can write it down on the back of the map!" I exclaimed.

"No one has any writing utensils. How are we going to write things down?" Lionel pointed out. We sank into a despairing silence.

"I know. I'll write it with blood." Katherine pulled out the folded map. Before any of us could protest, she bit down on her right index finger, hard. Beads of blood appeared immediately. In a few quick strokes, a grid of the tile floor was drawn out on the parchment in red.

"Kath…" I didn't know what to say. My heart ached a little to see her use her own blood as ink, but we had no other way.

We tried to reason the tiles out with logic, marking out what tiles were already stepped on and what they were, and then seeing if there was some sort of pattern to the arrangement. It didn't seem that way. The mechanisms were scattered around the floor randomly. Every step was a gamble. Lionel sloshed back to the center tile that sealed us in. "If every mechanism has a reverse mechanism, then one of these tiles will open the door again. Maybe there isn't another exit; we just have to go out the way we came in."

"That makes sense," Katherine said thoughtfully, looking down at her bloody sketch. "Do you want to try the tile that's two to your left and one forward?"

Lionel stepped onto the corresponding tile. Nothing happened. Katherine called out another one. This one brought loud rumbling, like what we heard when the sliding door shut. "Did it work?" I looked behind us eagerly.

The rumbling didn't stop. Instead of the entrance opening, the walls on either side opened up to reveal Evils waiting to pounce. They swarmed into the room, and the walls closed again. "Lionel! Be careful!" Katherine shouted.

Lionel tried not to step on anymore tiles while defending himself, but it was extremely difficult. The rest of us were essentially backed into the wall because we didn't want to step onto the grid. There were at least thirty Evils and only five of us, all of whom were restricted on movement. But the Evils splashed onto the tile floor without care and activated many traps at once.

More arrows whizzed by. A net fell from the ceiling, ensnaring two Evils. To the right of the room, a pit opened up and the water in the room rushed to fill the cavity. Several Evils fell in and exploded into dust as they impaled themselves on the metal spikes at the bottom. There was no point avoiding the tiles now. Katherine and I exchanged a glance before setting foot on the grid, both to have more space for combat and to reach Lionel, who was surrounded and already had several bleeding wounds. The two remaining soldiers quickly disappeared beneath the mass of fur and claws.

"Step on as many tiles as you can! Try to find the one that opens the door!" Lionel shouted at us.

"We're trying!" I shouted back, stepping on four tiles at once while slicing through three Evils. None of them opened the door.

An Evil clawed at my shoulder, leaving a two-inch deep gash. I roared in pain and struck out with my sword, only to have another Evil pounce on me from the back, its claws digging into my flesh. I fell forward, hitting the tiled floor on my stomach. As the Evil behind me reared back to deliver the killing blow, I twisted my body and rolled out of the way. Katherine leapt out from nowhere, slicing through the Evil before it could attack again. She pulled me to my feet. "You alright?"

"I'm okay, don't worry." I stood back to back with Katherine, holding out our swords in identical defense positions. My clothes were stained red. Only the adrenaline coursing through my veins kept the pain at bay. I refused to die here, in this cramped, booby-trap-filled room in the depth of the fortress. As the Evils surrounding us charged again, I attacked.

The sound of gears shifting caught my attention. Someone—or something—had stepped on a tile that opened a compartment on the left wall, revealing a lever. I kicked away an Evil that was grabbing at my leg and fought my way to the lever. Praying that it was not another trap, I pulled it down.

The center portion of the wall opposite of where we entered slid open, revealing a flight of stone stairs. "Guys, I found the exit! I found the exit!" I shouted, unable to contain my excitement. "Lionel, Kath, let's go!" I felt a burst of energy and managed to fight my way to the exit.

Katherine, who was closer, cut down two more Evils and jumped over the last row of tiles to stand side by side with me just outside the room. Together, we stopped any Evils from escaping and waited for Lionel to join us. He slogged through the fray, clearly wounded. However, he didn't come towards us; he went for the lever instead.

"Lionel, what are you doing?!" I stabbed an Evil that charged at us. "The exit is over here!"

It was as if the fifteen or so Evils still remaining all suddenly realized that Lionel was an easier target than we were. They converged to form a semicircle around him, prowling and waiting to strike. Lionel looked at Katherine and me with resolve and determination in his eyes.

"If we all leave, the Evils will chase after us. We won't make it to the throne room." His voice was clear and unwavering. "One of us has to stay behind and close the door so they are trapped here."

"You'll be trapped here too! You can't fight all of them!" Katherine looked like she was about to run back into the room. "If you're going to stay, we'll stay with you and fight together!"

Lionel shook his head. "I appreciate the gesture, but you and Aaron are the chosen ones. Your destiny is to defeat Lord Victor. Indigo is still waiting for you two." He glared at the ring of Evils all waiting menacingly about a meter away. "I will take care of these monsters and meet up with you."

He locked his gaze with mine. "It was a pleasure and an honor to call the Rosewood Seven my friends. Aaron, rescue Indigo—and keep her safe this time."

"I will. Don't worry." I gave him a single hard nod, feeling a lump in my throat. Before Katherine or I could say anything more, the Evils growled and attacked. Lionel, without breaking eye contact with me, pushed the lever up.

The wall rumbled again as the storm of claws and fur descended upon him. "Lionel!" Katherine lunged out. I grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

Lionel called out, "Tell Indigo that I—"

The door slid shut with a final rumble, cutting off the Evils' roars and Lionel's last sentence.